Thanks, Barby. Your tips are REALLY helpful. It is too easy to assume portions are all right, when you’re a wee bit out. On 800 calories that is a big difference. I also didn’t drink so much, so that might be another thing. Going to cut down weighing myself to twice a week and keep going. Feel SO much better, and that is good in itself.

End Of Week 7 – Some Reflections…

Hi all, am now 98.8kg and always between 3.8 and 4.6 in the morning – primarily affected by how much exercise I’ve done.
My target is 95kg but I am happy that I am fast approaching 20kg’s lost. I can’t begin to describe the changes in my life…
I had some incredibly slow weight loss including a few days of weight gain in week 5 but, thankfully, no rising BSL as others have reported. I fell off the wagon the week AFTER Easter, having done so well on holidays with everyone drinking and eating… I’m going to add one week to the 8 as a result. I find that my body latches on to certain weight milestones for a few days and then goes down again. For me they were 110, 105, 100kg. The initial fast weight loss had to slow down and I think between 1 and 2kg a week is about right for me. I fell into the trap of not using MyFitnessPal to log food and realised I had started creeping up in kcal per day… I buy myself milestone presents, size 42″ waist now a loose 36″ means some nice new clothes. I marked 100kg’s with a new watch to remind me never to slip back into my poor lifestyle/eating habits. I had bad non-acidy indigestion for couple of weeks, like a pressure on the throat kind of thing which I put down to shrinking stomach putting upward pressure on the system? It is really hard to get the 10000 steps in if you aren’t careful and brutally honest with yourself. I now do 80 minute sessions on an elliptical trainer (1300 steps per ten minutes) to make sure. I have noticed a huge increase in cardiovascular fitness. I sweat heaps less too. I have been amazed at how little food I need to operate. I have been so productive building stairs, renovating kitchen etc but I have had to learn how to do these things differently now that I am more relaxed in my nature – everyone has been commenting on how laid back but productive I have been. Is this cause i don’t have so much cortisol flooding my system. I once took an ant-depressant called ‘Pristique’ and the change in my head since blood sugar and weight have come down is very similar. My whole experience of life is changing. I am a singer songwriter and it has affected my singing, guitar playing, and song composition. I have been thinking a lot about my post-8 week regime. I am thinking that I will do the med diet at 1500kcal per day, four days a week, and 800kcal 3 days a week to start. I will monitor my weight and make sure that I don’t continue to lose. Anyhow thanks for all the support on this and other topics and good luck to everyone – you will have ups and downs but if you learn not to punish yourself and be honest with yourself you can do it!

Thanks, Izzy! One of the best things is this forum. Stops me boring my partner! And keeps me going. Restored and renewed!

Good morning Keje,

Thank you also for your helpful advise too.

Sorry my fault but as I previously pointed out I am a Type 2 Diabetic and not Type 1 insulin dependent.
The other reason I am concerned about my levels is because I have now been referred to Hospital for retina eye tests and am keen to try and sort this out.

Having said that your info gives me lots of research to catch up on.

Best wishes,

Nigel.

Keje I totally recognise what you are saying. I didn’t realise how much guilt I held about my weight until the day I bought 2 new frocks and wasn’t cowering in the corner of the changing rooms and making a very fast dash for the exit 🙂

Personally I would skip breakfast and have the lunch (sensible portions, filling the plate with veg rather than the carbs) and a little bit of trifle (just say you are full and ask for a small portion) and a small tea as you have said. If you are serving yourself from serving dishes you can put whatever you want on your plate and no one will probably be watching what you are eating unless you are drawing attention to it. However, if she is dishing up then have a quiet word with her. If she is a good friend she will support you and won’t announce it to the world. Perhaps ask if she can set aside a little bit of the fruit and cream from the trifle for you. Maybe think of it as having one day following the med diet option rather than the 800 kcal option?

kes, that is a fantastic double goal!! 🙂

Thanks guys and yes I think the alcohol is the main culprit and my hope is that the first stone will be a huge spur to push harder for the next stone.

I’m looking at it that I needed to lose 4 stone to be in the lower half of the ‘overweight’ section of the BMI chart, so I’m a quarter of the way there today. The next stone will take me to the cusb between ‘overweight’ and ‘obese’ and that will be a double goal.

Good morning Bill1954,

Thank you for replying to my initial post.

Fortunately I booked early this morning to see my GP so my appointment fits in well to ask about the BSD.
As you kindly point out I too can’t see why this wont fit in well my my current problem of trying to lower my BS levels.

Thanks again for your advice.

Best regards,

Nigel.

I have to say for me the obvious health benefit to me is weight loss and a 10cm smaller waist. However, I think the improvement to my mental health/ way I perceive myself has been a massive benefit. I now feel free of the previous feelings of guilt and incompetence at being bigger than I liked despite exercising loads and seeming to eat less than skinnier friends, this setting up cycles of extreme dieting followed by extreme binges. After years of trying to loose weight, losing and regaining the same stone on too many occasions to count and believing that I’m just greedy and will never get my binging under control, this really is a revelation. Realising I’m insulin resistant, not incapable of self control is a revelation. I’m almost having to rethink my whole perceptions of the way I (and others)have labelled myself over the years. To be free of binges and snacking now and find I can go hours without eating and being hungry is amazing. It’s not that I’ve learned to control binging/snacking it’s the fact that I just have no desire to do so. This has been so freeing and I feel so much calmer and happier, even ecstatic at times. The low fat propaganda has really been quite damaging to me over the years.
Also, have to say being able to eat cheese and the occasional red wine completely guilt free (while still losing weight) is a benefit I will forever be grateful for!!!

Bill, arrowroot is very high carb!!! Unless it is just a teaspoon I would be wary

Hi Nigel, unfortunately I haven’t heard of anyone on the forums having the identical problem so can’t point you to a suitable posting.
I have a friend who had a kidney transplant over 30 years ago but she hasn’t followed this diet as she does not have T2.

I hope you have an understanding GP/consultant who is prepared to think out of the box. Dieticians seem to mostly churn out the low fat/high carb stuff but you may be lucky enough to find one who will take this diet seriously.

I know, from my friend, that once you have had the transplant and not having the dietary restrictions of dialysis that all food, other than salty food and alcohol, was on the menu.

I can’t see a problem with cutting out starchy carbs but would seek proper medical advice first. As Bill says, there are people on these forums who have seen dramatic reductions in their blood sugars and you don’t want T2 on top of the meds you take to maintain your transplanted kidney.

Hoping for good news for you 🙂

I will find it X X X

mmmm will have a think. For some reason I’m reluctant to “come out” but maybe I need to as this is going to be a long term new way of life. I may say that I’m just trying to cut sugar out. I could always bring a small cheeseboard/celery with me, as a contribution, and also have a quiet word with her. Good idea on the cheese, thanks both.

Well done lostgirl, good to see things happening for you now 🙂
Could you actually post that yorkie recipe please, your link goes to a dead page for me.

Hi my wife and are new to the BSD world however we have been thermomix owners for a while.

Lynette you mentioned you had a few recipes, or any one else, I have a TM 31 and would be very grateful for any thermomix recipes.

We have converted a couple of BSD recipes however if someone else has done some that would be great, I like easy.

regards ash

Improvements in my retinal blood vessels condition
Cholesterol in normal limits
Sleeping better so feeling more alive and active

Bill, the cheese is a good idea. We must have been writing at the same time!! 🙂

Hi Barby, personally I would explain to my friend that I was doing this diet and say I hope you won’t be offended if I don’t eat carb rich foods but I will still really enjoy the dinner you cook and your company even if I don’t eat the carbs.

There is less chance of causing offence that way. 🙂

Barby the roast dinner minus the potatoes will be ok. About dessert, could you tell her that you have high blood sugar readings at the moment so would she mind if you had cheese instead.

Not sure if this is helpful or not, but have seen a few references to physiological insulin resistance on other low carb forums which may explain some people’s higher blood sugars. It appears that this is actually a good thing, if the explanation I have copied below (lots of other references come up if you google it)is correct. It looks like you need to get your HbA1c tested to more reliably tell you if this low carb way of eating is benefiting you.

Physiological Insulin Resistance is better called “Adaptive Glucose Sparing”. Why would your peripheral tissues be primed and adpated to remove glucose from blood if… there isn’t any glucose in there to speak of?

No, those tissues adapt. Glucose transporters fold back inside the cell from the surface, instead the cell becomes more adept at taking in fat which is circulating. You literally become adapted to sparing glucose for use by those cells which absolutely require it. Some brain cells, red blood cells and testes require glucose because they do not have mitochondria!

Yes, FBG can easily rise above 100 mg/dl. But: FBG is a metric which is useful for day to day and hour to control and monitoring of blood glucose in diabetics. If you have physiological insulin resistance, you are literally at the opposite end of the risk spectrum to a diabetic:
•You will have an extremely low HbA1c value
•Your liver and kidneys will be very sensitive to the effect of insulin, even though muscle tissue isn’t
•You will almost never suffer hypoglycemic events

It takes a few days of eating carbs to return to the normal state for healthy people. This is why the term is “physiological” and not “pathological”. It is not a disease state, it is a healthy response to carbohydrate restriction.

My improvements are:
Massive improvement in my asthma.
No acid reflux on the 15 weeks of BSD
Less osteoarthritis pain.

Hi so many of us are noticing improvements in pre existing health conditions I thought it would be useful to have a thread where we put our name and which conditions have improved for us on this diet. It could be useful to Prof Taylor and Dr Mosley for their research.

Lostgirl, So pleased to hear about another three pounds off!

Those containers are a really good idea! 🙂

When on the 5:2 earlier this year I heard a few mentions of gallstones particularly in women being a side effect of very low cal diet & high protein – not what we are doing. This was from Prof Longo who MM was researching intermittent fasting with. Good to hear you’re seeing improvements in yours Cherrianne. My improvements have been to
Asthma
Osteoarthritis
Sinuses

Bill, I’m glad you can!! ;0

Kes don’t beat yourself up about it, you are human after all!
We all have little slip ups, just try to take it 1 day at a time, eg I won’t have alcohol just for today.
You have lost a stone so that is no cause for despondancy, celebrate the fact that you know how to do it and aim to shift the next stone a bit faster.

Hi Odette, I hope the extra water sees a fall on your scales in the morning! 🙂

Hi Christine, I’m sure your friends will notice your weight loss! Wouldn’t it be wonderful if they decide to try this diet too!!!

Cherrianne, looking forward to tasting those lovely organic eggs your girls lay!!
Lucia, I would never bully anyone about being vego either.

I was vegetarian myself for about 14 years but decided to allow meat into my diet when living in the Middle East as it was causing people too much anxiety about meals for me – not many people were vegetarian at the time and I didn’t want to be the cause of stress or people making 2 different meals when I was invited to their homes. I still eat meat now but not every day – a bit too pricey apart from anything else
xxx

Great stuff Alan
You see? after all the worrying you are doing it right after all!
Congratulations, that is a brilliant result, here’s to many more

ROFLMAO
I can read the words Judith, but I can almost hear the thoughts 😀

Hi Kes, just ‘manning up’ will spur you on to achieve more. I think the alcohol might be your biggest stumbling block to more weight loss. Any chance of ditching it until your holiday? You could then look forward to it as a holiday treat you deserve. 🙂

Hi Lucia,
What a good idea, I’m going to get myself a lovely bracelet, a sparkly silver one, ( I don’t suit gold), I’m cheap you See! Then when I reach my target weight I will have it engraved with 800, brilliant idea!!! Thank you for the inspiration.
We are off out for a meal this evening with our diebetic couple, I’m hoping they notice how much weight I have lost, they have been supportive, as well as the forum, we only see them half a dozen times a year, so I think they will see a difference.
Christine

Well sorry been busy.. Life manic!!!

Dropped 3 pounds!!!

What I am doing.. Is bought off eBay take away containers I can freeze and microwave.. Doing bumper cook off and portion and freeze…

So far so good!

We’ve been invited to a birthday lunch with friends on Sunday, which is lovely, just the four of us. I know she’s doing a big roast dinner, so I, being veggie, have offered to bring a cauliflour cheese dish. Hopefully I can make one, that is low carb, and others won’t even realise. She’ll do loads of lovely veg to go with it, I just will have to avoid the roasties.

For desert she’s making homemade trifle, and possibly apple pie. I don’t feel I can offer to bring an alternative, as she’s a very good cook and.maybe would offend her.

What would you all do, just have a little trifle, homemade custard/fruit/cream? I would just have this meal plus low carb soup in evening, no booze. This is the first real challenge I’ve had like this. None of them know I’m doing this regime. I want to wait until I have some noticeable weight loss before telling anyone.

Bill! Me and shell suits!!! Wash your mouth out!!!! :0 :0 🙂

Oh I see
Judith and the dresses 😀 😀 😀
Hashy, ditch the dresses and get a few shellsuits!!!

Penny
I understand the word, but I can’t see where I was acting like that unless it’s a way back post.
Enlighten me please 🙂

Hi christina
Sounds right to me.
Keep up the fats too!
Best of luck
Penny

I can’t comment on the transplant situation, you should really consult your GP or a dietician but the blood sugar readings should take a tumble on this plan if you get the go ahead.
We have had folk with readings similar to yours getting remarkable results.
Try just cutting the bad carbs out for a week or so to see how you react and then worry about the calories would be my advice, but ONLY when you have medical advice to go ahead.
Best of luck!

Hey Bill- let’s not be heteronormative!!!
( that is a word!!!)
Penny

grr meant to post this in the fast 800. oh well it’s here now lol

I think that this really reinforces the guidance in the book that you need to check with your GP if you are on meds for high blood pressure before starting the diet. If you are, check your blood pressure at least daily when you start the diet. I was completely stunned by the fall in my readings after just 1 or 2 days.

I am due to see the GP again early next week (follow up call which means blood sugar was causing concern) so decided to do a pre-emptive strike and go on the diet for a week before going back, based on reports that some people reported almost immediate benefits. Didn’t expect this though! It’s just a shame that Lloyds pharmacy let me down completely and never sent the blood glucose monitor I ordered a week ago, so I have no idea what my blood sugar is doing. On the upside, Boots gave me the customer services number for Roche and when I phoned them to ask where I could get a meter (Accu-chek Aviva) they said they would send me one free of charge. Result!

As a doctor myself (of IT not medicine though) I’m fairly happy to self-administer for a few days, but I’m only doing it as an emergency measure before my BP drops through the floor.

Bottom line – every home should have a blood pressure monitor (and use it)!

Morning Guy’s, as the initial post points out I am new to your excellent site and getting more desperate as time goes by.
So diving straight in……

Bit of my History, Type 2 diabetic after gratefully receiving a Kidney Transplant but I was put on to prednisolone and hey presto I developed Type 2 Diabetes.

I was told by the Doc the sugar increase was because of this steroid I was placed on?

This is my first question has any of you Guys tried the BSD after having a transplant and if so may I ask what success or failure did you experience?

Currently for no apparent reason my BS levels have risen dramatically from 9.5 to 17 and I am extremely worried.
Would you say I am now beyond help with the BSD approach?

Hoping for some feed back,

Very best regards,

Nigel.

it might help to weigh in less, once a week maybe or even at least leave it a couple of days in between.

I’m a newbie too so lets keep going 🙂

I’ve also had to pee a lot…. and I also don’t much feel drawn to the book example recipes, but there are plenty low carb recipe ideas you can find here and online elsewhere and I have been making up my own.

Hi FatBlaster – I know EXACTLY how you feel about being demotivated, especially when you read about all the amazing losses. Not everyone is so lucky – I am quite new here and one of the slow losers, but it IS going. I know myself, and if I see the scales go up, it does demotivate me, could make me binge.

So I have not weighed for last 5 days, just keep doing it properly. It will come off, and meanwhile hopefully you’ll start feeling other benefits, such as clothes slightly looser, happy being in control. I may weigh once a week from now on.

The things I’m trying to do now, which I didn’t at first, is take the time to weigh my portions ie when I add teaspoon chopped nuts to yoghurt/ or 3 dsrt spoons yoghurt for breakfast. Once I know exactly how much a portion is in a certain spoon, I enter it on My Fitness Pal, and use same spoon from then on. I may have been eating too much without realising. Also if you go on MFP or similar, you can make sure you are eating enough fat, which is also important.

Make sure you drink loads, apparently it really helps with weight loss. I’ve found these forums make all the difference to keep me on track. Good luck and bet you will be shrinking soon.

Haven’t had the bravery to post my weight on this thread for the last few weeks as I’ve been so disappointed with myself. I’m like many of you who lost a lot of weight in the first 2 weeks (11lb) then just sat there. The difference between you guys and me is that I know it is all my fault. I know that I’m not sticking rigidly to 800 cals, I’m not drinking enough water, I’m still drinking too much alcohol and I’m not getting enough exercise. All these things are in my power to change but I just can’t seem to muster up enough willpower.

It is day 4 of week 7 today and this morning I hit the 1 st lost goal (a goal I aimed to have achieved at the end of week 4) so thought it was time to man up and post it here (hoping it might spur me on to do better). We’ve also got a holiday planned for the end May/beginning June and my next goal is another stone before then.

Although I’ve not been brave enough to put up my own weight I wanted to thank all of you for posting up your amazing results and also those of you who are struggling a bit like me. I read all your posts every day and gain such a lot of comfort, inspiration and encouragement (I just need to bottle it and not let life and my own weakness derail me so much).

Well done to all the losers! not just of weight but of the burdens of ill health and especially well done for sticking with it and giving us encouragement.

Here we are on day 4 (I’ll update my food at the days end) but I wanted to check in 🙂

Positives… My scales are showing I’ve lost 3.5lb’s woohoo! I’ve not really felt hungry and I’ve found it easier than I thought to find food to eat. I’m feeling more confident that I can see this through and still enjoy my meals. I’ve been having a lunchtime walk at work to help get my step target I forgot to add my steps to some of my updates but I’ve made my 10000 or more every day.

Negatives… I’ve had some headaches, presumably due to carb withdrawal as well as suddenly not drinking lots of my favourite lady grey tea! (I’ve been having herbal instead) and my IBS had been playing up a little but it did that anyway so I’m not linking it directly to the diet. It can be very random. I have WANTED to eat carbs but I recognise I wasn’t hungry. Unfortunately (lol) I live with a very lean husband who does training and has a ridiculously fast metabolism. He needs to eat a lot including carbs and as I have an 11 year old and a 3 year old I can’t just clear the house of the stuff I’d like to munch.

When I see something would normally just eat and want it, I turn away quickly so as not to dwell on it. If I think about it then usually I eat a single cashew nut or a piece of sugar free gum. So far that has been enough to distract me.

I only work Monday to Thursday so my weekend has started now, and I’m expecting it to be harder to keep my steps up as well as staying on track but I’m feeling like I can do it 🙂

Feel free to point out any flaws in what I’ve done so far, I welcome advice and constructive criticism.

Day 3

Breakfast- two eggs (whisked up in a cup then added spring onion and ham, fried)

lunch- scotch egg and salad, and a few strawberries.

Dinner- Soup. (made with beef stock, lentils, onion and butterbeans)

I recognise I’ve had too many eggs…but I made a batch of the scotch eggs and they needed eaten 🙂 I’ll vary it up more next week as I will be better organised. The soup recipe was from a website I use a lot for cooking I’ll post the link below. I used this recipe but added a can of butterbeans and a little more water to accommodate the beans. I blended it too. It was really nice and will be lunch tomorrow and probably some frozen.

755 calories, 55.9g carbs

http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/14460/just-lentil-soup.aspx?o_is=SR

Hi Hashimoto,
You should be enjoying fresh eggs when you get here. The laying is tapering off due to the shorter days but we are still getting eggs. Our girls get buried at a ripe old age lol. Usually to fertilise a new tree! We have quite a few of Hugh’s DVDs, we can’t get TV reception where we live but we do enjoy his shows and the whole sustainable living thing.
Lucia, I would never bully or coerce anyone into turning vego. It is a very personal choice and we aren’t militant about it at all. It still isn’t easy, even in these days, to get good veg food when eating out. Especially if you want to go low carb. At home it’s easy to be a low carb vego.
Julia I can just picture you trying to hush your daughter! They come up with the funniest things don’t they? It’s all about whatever comes into their head comes out on their lips. No filter yet lol.